Native Instrument is a Berlin based sound collaboration bringing together the field-recordings archive of Felicity Mangan and the abstract vocabulary of Stine Janvin Motland. Often referred to as insect techno, Native Instrument’s music is constructed using electronic and vocal adaptations of wildlife audio recordings originating mainly from the Australian and North European fauna; mixing the natural rhythms of animal calls with digital effects and vocal imitations, Native Instrument enlightens a sonic ambiguity between rural nature, electronics, and the human voice. Over time, field recordings and human vocabulary become mixed up, indiscernible from one another – a sound illusion that ends in the creation of a new melodious wildlife genre. With their debut release Camo (Shelter Press), Native Instrument presents their true artificial nature; sound collages moving between tropical ambiance, club inspired bug beats and amphibian trance.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Felicity: The Lyre bird. A native Australian bird that can mimic any sound from it’s immediate environment, while sounding like its creating live ‘music concrete’.
Stine: Rhtythms and melodic patterns of animal calls.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
F: When I was a teenager, I was playing in experimental rock bands.
S: Yeah, in my teenage years, I started to write songs.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
F: I have only one, that i have listened, danced and sung to since I was 3 years old, Michael Jackson: Off The Wall.
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
F: Long dark winters and concerts every night of the week. Meeting great people like Stine to play with.
S: Freedom.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
F: Access to the great ocean road – ocean beaches 20 mins drive away from my home town.
S: where you can see the ocean and the mountains meet.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
F: Head for the wildness, off course.
S: Define music.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
?
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
F: Botanic gardens.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
F: Seeing Keiji Haino play live Japan. I’d been living there for a few months and hadn’t really spoken to anyone. Making music really potent.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
F: Very, we need samplers to play back feild recordings to construct live music.
S: Technology allow us to materialise our creativity.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
F: Yes, I have a brother, he is also an artist. He is very supportive.
S: I also have a brother, he is an arcitect, he is great, we were always supportive of each other.
Native Instrument’s Stine Janvin Motland will perform solo as ST/NE on 1st December 2018 at Easterndaze X Berlin, Felicity Mangan on Friday, 7th December 2018 at new Neukölln venue KM28.
Photo © Camile Blake
